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In the oldest cemetery in town, there was an urban legend about an angel statue that guarded an unmarked grave. It was said that if someone covered the angel statue's eyes and asked “Guess who” four times, the ghost of the girl buried below it would appear. The years had passed, and a set of rules was created for those who dared to play:
- Once started, you cannot stop. All four questions must be made.
- If you stop at the second question, you will have a migraine for days.
- If you stop at the third question, the ghost will follow you home.
- When the ghost appears, you have to play with her. Otherwise, you will die.
- If the ghost doesn’t appear, leave something at her grave to apologize for disturbing her.
- Do not look back until you are out of the cemetery.
- The ghost might appear before all the four questions. Ask four times anyway.
Needless to say, that urban legend always attracted all types of people to the cemetery, be it to prove the supernatural, have a taste of adrenaline, or simply prank their friends. It also was a good form of payment for lost bets, which was how Jongho was having a pretty good time that night, almost breathless from laughing at Mingi, San, and Wooyoung, nearly crying for simply being near the famous angel statue.
“This is literally psychological torture. My lawyers will know about this!” Mingi said, his voice getting a pitch higher at the last part with the sudden breeze that made some fallen leaves move around him.
“You don’t have lawyers.” Hongjoong laughed.
“Mingi-ah, better win the bet next time!” Yunho said, sitting very comfortably on their shared picnic mat. “Just do it. I have missions on Overwatch to do.”
“Why do we have to do this too?” Wooyoung crossed his arms and pouted, trying his best to make both of his boyfriends have enough mercy on him. “Mingi is the one who lost the bet, not us.”
“Because you and San said Mingi would win.” Jongho explained, holding his phone while he waited for the big moment. “Maybe if you placed your bet on your boyfriend, Wooyoung, you wouldn’t be in this situation, tsk.”
“Exactly.” Yunho pouted, much to Wooyoung’s dismay, because he was too much whipped for his own good. “What kind of boyfriend are you?”
“We should break up with him.” Hongjoong looked at Yunho. Jongho knew it was a bluff, but it made Wooyoung jump on Hongjoong, startling him with the sudden move. He screamed loud enough to scare whatever bird was on the tree near them, which obviously created a new wave of screams from the others with that dark shadow moving in the sky.
“A little more and we’ll never leave this cemetery.” San cried, holding Mingi’s arm as if the other wasn’t scared like him.
Seonghwa laughed. “We’ll leave straight to the jail if y’all keep screaming like that.”
“Just know that I’ll go haunt you,” Wooyoung said as he finally let Hongjoong go, smiling at the disgusted sound his boyfriend made. “Yunho doesn’t deserve it, but I’ll pull your feet at night and knock things from your art studio.”
“You are so mean!”
“Hey! Two boyfriends, two hauntings.” Yunho pouted again, but this time Wooyoung kissed him.
“Is that really your concern?” Seonghwa stared at Yunho almost in disbelief. He was around the throuple for time enough to know they were stupidly in love with each other enough, but it still amazed him from time to time.
“Can y’all stop and focus on the task in hands so we can go home?” Jongho rolled his eyes. Sharing the house with Wooyoung and Hongjoong gave him enough unwanted shared moments with the throuple. He didn’t need to see yet another moment of them when the group had an opportunity to laugh at each other.
“I agree. I don’t like this place.” Yeosang sighed. The sound was followed by an owl’s hoot that again made a wave of screams and scared noises from the group.
“What if we die, hm?” Mingi asked, seeming offended that he had to make such a thing for a lost bet. “Let’s change this. I will clean all your houses for a week if we go home right now.”
“You agreed to the bet while knowing the angel statue's play was the deal. Now pay it.” Jongho disagreed.
“The ghost can literally kill us!” Wooyoung protested. “This is worse than a +4 in Uno.”
“That’s not very ‘I’m such an atheist that I don’t even believe in myself’ of you, Wooyoung”. Yeosang smiled at his friend, seemingly very happy about the comment.
Before Wooyoung could answer, the group heard a noise from the grass around the place. Quickly, they turned off their lanterns and tried to see what it was. Nothing else happened for the next seconds, so their lights were back as Seonghwa whispered it was probably an animal. Mingi and Wooyoung returned to their cries and pleas while the others tried to argue that everyone agreed with the bet terms and consequences.
As the minutes went by, Jongho was getting tired of it. He wanted to laugh at his hyungs' scared faces, take enough pictures to use as stickers on their group chat, and maybe print and hang around their houses just for fun.
“I will do the first round.” He said, making everyone look at him confused as he stood up. “I will do it first, and when you see that everything is fine, you’ll do it without complaining.” Mingi wanted to say something, but Jongho stared at him. “Otherwise, I will punch you.”
The trio pondered which option was scarier, and while Mingi would likely rather have the punch, he remained silent after Wooyoung and San agreed with the new condition. Standing up with a sigh, Jongho walked towards the angel statue.
The unmarked grave was in front of the angel, so he walked until he was facing the back of the statue. It was a little taller than Yunho, so Jongho could still easily reach the angel’s eyes, but there was a pile of earth that was clearly made by everyone who came before to play.
The statue was cold beneath Jongho’s fingers, and a loud owl’s hoot echoed around as if it was a last warning that maybe, just maybe, he shouldn’t do what he was about to. Still, he cleared his throat and took a deep breath, feeling the cold autumn breeze surrounding him after he checked if his hands were in the right place.
“Guess who.”
As expected, nothing happened besides a small weird noise from half of the group. Jongho didn’t hold a laugh when he saw Wooyoung and Mingi hugged behind Yunho.
“Guess who.”
“I will have a heart attack before he finishes it.” San said, making Seonghwa and Yeosang laugh, the latter patting his head.
There was a crack from somewhere in the cemetery, something like a broken twig that made them stop and listen. But that one random crack was all they got, so they moved their flashlights back at Jongho and the angel statue.
“Don’t stop now or in the next. I don’t want to share our apartment with a ghost.” Wooyoung crossed his arms.
“Oh, aren’t you worried if I have a migraine?” Jongho pouted, almost taking one of his hands from the statue for his dramatic act, but Mingi made a weird noise that stopped him. “What?”
“Don’t take your hands off the statue until you finish it!” Mingi exclaimed. “Basic rules for Ouija boards and stuff.”
“Oh, makes sense.” Yeosang tilted his head to the side. “It’s like the game is interrupted if you take your hands out.”
Jongho sighed. “Ok… Guess who.”
Another crack echoed around. Everyone decided to ignore it, but footsteps followed the crack this time, so once again they were engulfed by the darkness. Jongho wasn’t sure why he kept his hands around the statue’s eyes, but he did it while he heard his friends softly moving around, probably to hold each other to stop some noise until they could understand their situation.
It was definitely the sound of footsteps that kept going around, almost like someone was walking in a circle near them. If it was the cemetery’s security guard, they would be in trouble, but if it wasn’t, they probably would be in danger since it was impossible to know who could be. Teenagers and ghost hunters were their best option because they could easily join them or give them space unless the teens were up for trouble. Everyone else could be a 50/50 ending, and none of it made them feel comfortable.
If they were smart enough, they would’ve taken that as a sign to leave. And yet, everyone stayed there, hearing whoever was walking around them. Almost ten minutes passed, and the footsteps finally stopped, with no one in sight even after they decided to turn on their flashlights.
“That was weird.” Yunho said after a while, still looking around
“Can we please leave now?” San asked with a hopeful look on his face that was crashed by Jongho in the next second.
“Let’s finish the game and then leave.” He sighed, shushing San in the next second so his round could finally end. “Guess who.”
As he made the fourth question, a cold wind reached the group, making the next-in-line trio mumble complaints and cries. Jongho sat back at their picnic mat, receiving a shoulder pat from Yeosang to show he had done a good job.
‘Well, nothing happened.” Yeosang said.
“Yet, at least.” San mumbled.
“Ok, fine, let’s decide who is next.” Wooyoung stood up, brave as ever, and pointed at San and Mingi. “Rock, paper, scissors!”
No one knew if Wooyoung’s plan was to go last with his little game, but he ended up as the first. Complaining all the way, Wooyoung placed his hands around the angel statue. Jongho barely had time to press play to film Wooyoung as the other said the four questions in less than five seconds, running back to sit next to Seonghwa and yelling that it was Mingi’s turn.
However, while Jongho let his camera roll, he wasn’t paying attention to Mingi playing it slower as he needed to convince himself to say it every time. Something else caught his attention, a noise he couldn’t fully understand, but that was bothering him. Maybe it was just a mosquito, much to his dismay, so Jongho moved his hand to be free from that bug, which led to another detail that gave his mind a small red flag: there were no more bug sounds. Since they entered the cemetery there were all types of nocturnal insect sounds going around, especially crickets.
But now it was silent. No bugs, and not even that owl from before. There were only their voices, that weird sound in Jongho’s ear, and the occasional hustling wind.
“I will pass out.” Mingi exclaimed, hands on his knees as he took a deep breath.
Yunho laughed. “You’ll be fine… What if we do a round together?”
Mingi cursed at Yunho, stopping mid-sentence to watch as San basically ran to the statue and played as fast as Wooyoung, coming back to hug Seonghwa all in less than a minute.
“Y’all are no fun.” Hongjoong huffed.
“Go play then!” Mingi seemed ready to fight, which only made everyone laugh.
“Ok, ok. Calm down. Let’s go home.” Yunho stood up, giving Mingi a teddy bear to place at the girl's grave, following the game rules.
Jongho glanced at the teddy bear against the unmarked grave, a weird feeling inside his chest. It wasn’t because of the grave, it came from the burning sensation on his back. Someone was watching him, but no matter where he pointed his flashlight on, all he saw were graves and trees. Giving up, he walked near Seonghwa as they returned to their cars to finally go home. Apparently, Hongjoong and Wooyoung decided to sleep at Yunho’s place, which meant Yeosang would need a place to not be traumatized by those three, so Jongho reached for the boy’s hand and linked their arms to walk together.
The group chat was light as if they weren’t leaving a cemetery, with a few teasing aimed at Mingi and Wooyoung, but Jongho knew that they would never have peace again once he made the stickers with their faces. Once inside his car, Jongho asked if Yeosang wanted to buy food before going home, but a sudden knock on their window scared the oldest.
“Did you hear it?” Yeosang asked as he tried to look outside his car window. Jongho did the same, but all his friends were already inside the cars, and no one else was around.
“Maybe something fell from one of these trees.” Jongho said, choosing the most reasonable answer.
Yeosang agreed but kept looking outside. Jongho mirrored the action for a while but decided they had stayed in that cemetery for too long. He could see Yunho and San’s cars near him on the road back to the city, and soon enough, they went on their separate ways. With fresh chicken wings, thanks to a 24-hour store, Jongho and Yeosang finally arrived at the apartment the younger shared with Hongjoong and Wooyoung.
“Do you mind if I take a shower?” Yeosang asked after they ate.
Jongho cleared his throat, making his best Wooyoung’s impersonation. “Mi casa es su casa.”
Yeosang’s loud laugh accompanied him as he walked towards Wooyoung’s bedroom, probably to steal some sleeping clothes from his best friend. It seemed as if the tension from the cemetery was leaving, though Jongho found himself thinking about that knock on his car window. Maybe he was right about it being a twig or something similar, but it was a knock, two taps with a rhythm.
As if to bring the sound to life, someone knocked on his front door. It was late night, who could it be at this hour? Jongho lazily walked towards the door and looked at the peephole, seeing an empty space outside his apartment. Maybe someone noticed they got the wrong house and already left.
Jongho wasn’t even far from the door when someone knocked again, the peephole still showing an empty space outside. This time, he waited by the door to see if someone knocked for the third time, and when it did, he opened the door to catch whoever it was. But, just like the peephole, all he saw was an empty space. No one was there, and there was no way someone could hide so fast.
Sighing, Jongho closed the door and lay down on the couch. He’d spent way too much time hearing supernatural things that it was starting to get inside his head. He should do like Yeosang and take a shower before going to bed.
But, of course, things wouldn’t be so easy for him.
There was a knock on the center table, startling him enough to make him sit, already knowing he was alone. More knocks came from around the living room, moving to the kitchen and then to the hallway, but every time Jongho reached the origin of the sound, he saw nothing. But a more confusing and scarier sound appeared: footsteps. It ran down the hallway, knocking on Jongho’s bedroom door until things were silent again.
“Why are you knocking around?” Yeosang opened Wooyoung’s bedroom door. “Are you ok?”
“It’s not me.” Jongho said.
“What do you mean?”
A new knock came from Jongho’s bedroom door and then another one from the bathroom.
“There’s no one inside.” Jongho whispered before Yeosang could ask, the horror shining in those pretty brown eyes. “I don’t know what it is.”
“Let’s get out.” Yeosang whispered back, getting back inside the room to grab his phone. He softly held Jongho’s wrist as they slowly walked back to the living room, taking wallets and the car keys so they could leave.
Some knocks still happened, but there was something scarier than the footsteps Jongho heard before. He was near the door, and Yeosang was in front of him. There was a knock on the wall next to them and that weird noise so close to his ear that he thought it was a mosquito back at the cemetery.
Except now it wasn’t a mosquito or any type of bug.
It was a voice.
A child’s voice whispering a simple question: Guess who.